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Sekiro: Shadows die Twice (2019)


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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekiro:_Shadows_Die_Twice

 

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice[a] is an upcoming action-adventure video game developed by FromSoftware and published by Activision. The game is scheduled to be released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on March 22, 2019. The game follows a shinobi known as Sekiro during the Sengoku period as he attempts to take revenge on a samurai who attacked him and kidnapped his lord.

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I managed to pick this up over the weekend and I'm happy to report that the developers have really outdone themselves with the level design and layout. I can't help but admire a game that doesn't do maps or waypoints, but instead allows you to build a mental picture with just a few landmarks dotted around to make it memorable.

 

One slight caveat, if running around is what you like most about the genre, those moments are fewer and further between than usual. I personally think that change of emphasis makes it feel quite refreshing, but it does seem like every other corner has some mini boss to get past and that doesn't leave a lot of time for free exploration.

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Yeah, that looks like a really good game. The graphics are good. I don't know about the story, but it seems fairly well crafted.

I haven't played it, so I don't know about the gameplay, but people seem to say it's really enjoyable, and quite hard to play.

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On 3/28/2019 at 5:58 PM, Enrico_sw said:

 

Why did this guy just cut his arm and didn't finish him?

 

plot armor I thought? I wondered about this too.  For the Japanese at this time, not being granted a death was considered a disgrace.   The nice thing for him to do would be to allow his enemy to stab himself in the "soul" (stomach) and then behead him.

 

 What is interesting is that Genichiro is quickly revealed to be a fanatic who is determined to win regardless of honor.  He subtly and overtly ignores all the etiquette of Bushido 

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On 3/25/2019 at 4:54 PM, Michael* said:

I managed to pick this up over the weekend and I'm happy to report that the developers have really outdone themselves with the level design and layout. I can't help but admire a game that doesn't do maps or waypoints, but instead allows you to build a mental picture with just a few landmarks dotted around to make it memorable.

 

One slight caveat, if running around is what you like most about the genre, those moments are fewer and further between than usual. I personally think that change of emphasis makes it feel quite refreshing, but it does seem like every other corner has some mini boss to get past and that doesn't leave a lot of time for free exploration.

 

This game is an extension of the "soulsborne" franchise.  It shares some of the same basic technologies/gaming interfaces as prior titles like Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 but manages to be mostly new material.  The general exploration and gaming engine is the same one that powered the previous two titles except with the addition of verticality:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FromSoftware

 

The huge number of bosses is a typical trait of Souls series; DS3 had around 20 original bosses.  This game however takes things into overdrive and you fight a ton of reskinned bosses- nearly every original boss has a reskinned version later on (so 40 plus bosses off the top of my head)

 

I've reviewed the whole game now and to compare it to Dark Souls 3 /bloodborne/tenchu it would be considered a mixture of all 3 games in its foundation.  

 

Some differences though:

 

-the single player gameplay is the best out of the three games (and it's the best ninja game ever made) however this comes at a heavy cost of not having a multiplayer component and having a streamlined single-player experience.  The enemy AI and variety is very good and like the other Fromsoftware games, is very polished.

 

-story and lore; Sekiro's story and lore are much more simple and straightforward than Dark Souls and Bloodborne.  The artwork is unique however less timeless and rich than the previous titles.  This is not to detract from its exceptionally high quality.

 

-music is decent but nowhere near as good as the music in Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3

 

-I think that the sequel will take place in China

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On 3/28/2019 at 5:59 PM, Enrico_sw said:

Yeah, that looks like a really good game. The graphics are good. I don't know about the story, but it seems fairly well crafted.

I haven't played it, so I don't know about the gameplay, but people seem to say it's really enjoyable, and quite hard to play.

 

"For Honor" has the best swordfighting engine; this is almost to that level but is designed around a single-player adventure experience.

 

The story is uncharacteristically straightforward and simple while being faithful to Japanese mythology.  The strength of the soulsborne series was in the projection of ambiguity/mystery, embedded stories, and artwork- think of impact of really strong world-building, like in Bioshock.

 

This is a very good channel on the lore of Fromsoftware games:

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/VaatiVidya/videos

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16 hours ago, Enrico_sw said:

I'd really like to try playing this game. People say it's quite hard and I like challenges/difficult modes.

 

Have you played it? @Cult Icon

 

No, but I watched all of Cowboy's walkthrough 

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9N0DmacOi4iWKQyygX89OQ

 

The souls series has always adhered to the "difficult but fair" philosophy that is a throughback to an earlier time (1990s) when games were a lot harder than they are today.  The concept behind this is they want the player to improve in skill and not use gimmicks to win. 

 

They may have taken it too far in Sekiro though (it's harder than Dark Souls) as there are a lot of 2-hit kills by bosses.

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